Publications by authors named "Tommaso Olimpieri"

Article Synopsis
  • Multi-drug resistant (MDR) bacteria, particularly carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CR-Kp), pose significant health risks due to their strong resistance to antibiotics and prevalence in hospitals.
  • *The study isolated four lytic bacteriophages from sewage, specifically targeting high-risk CR-Kp clones (ST307 and ST147), showing that they can effectively kill these harmful bacteria.
  • *These phages demonstrated stability across various conditions and lacked antibiotic resistance genes, making them potential candidates for alternative infection treatments and further research.*
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(Mab) is an opportunistic nontuberculous mycobacterium responsible of difficult-to-treat pulmonary infections in vulnerable patients, such as those suffering from Cystic Fibrosis (CF), where it represents a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Additionally, due to the intrinsic extensive antimicrobial resistance spectrum displayed by this species and the side effects reported for some available antibiotics, the therapeutic management of such infections remains extremely difficult. In the present study, we show that phosphatidylserine liposomes (PS-L) enhance intracellular mycobacterial killing of Mab infected human macrophages with functional or pharmacologically inhibited cystic fibrosis conductance regulator (CFTR), by a mechanism involving phagosome acidification and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production.

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(Mabs) is a dangerous non-tubercular mycobacterium responsible for severe pulmonary infections in immunologically vulnerable patients, due to its wide resistance to many different antibiotics which make its therapeutic management extremely difficult. Drug nanocarriers as liposomes may represent a promising delivery strategy against pulmonary Mabs infection, due to the possibility to be aerosolically administrated and to tune their properties in order to increase nebulization resistance and retainment of encapsulated drug. In fact, liposome surface can be modified by decoration with mucoadhesive polymers to enhance its stability, mucus penetration and prolong its residence time in the lung.

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A strategy adopted to combat human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) infection is based on interfering with virus entry into target cells. In this study, we found that phosphatidylcholine (PC) liposomes reduced the expression of the CD4 receptor in human primary type-1 macrophages but not in CD4 T cells. The down-regulation was specific to CD4, as any effect was not observed in CCR5 membrane expression.

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is an opportunistic pathogen that is very difficult to treat mainly due to its high propensity to acquire complex resistance traits. Notably, multidrug resistance (MDR)- (KP) infections are responsible for 22%-72% of mortality among hospitalized and immunocompromised patients. Although treatments with new drugs or with combined antibiotic therapies have some degree of success, there is still the urgency to investigate and develop an efficient approach against MDR-KP infections.

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Mycobacterium abscessus is the etiological agent of severe pulmonary infections in vulnerable patients, such as those with cystic fibrosis (CF), where it represents a relevant cause of morbidity and mortality. Treatment of pulmonary infections caused by M. abscessus remains extremely difficult, as this species is resistant to most classes of antibiotics, including macrolides, aminoglycosides, rifamycins, tetracyclines, and β-lactams.

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Chronic immune activation is the key pathogenetic event of Mycobacterium tuberculosis-human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) coinfection. We assessed the therapeutic value of phosphatidylserine-liposome (PS-L) in an in vitro model of M. tuberculosis-HIV coinfection.

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